BRD College: Hospital of death! Victims recount horror

inside p5

LUCKNOW: While the death of 30 children within 48 hours at Gorakhpur’s BRD Medical College is shocking, the hospital had been a witness to such tragedies in the past too.

“Earlier too, patients, majority being children, admitted in the encephalitis ward of the BRD Medical College hospital had died due to negligence,” said Dr AK Prasad, a Gorakhpur-based medical practitioner.

In fact, in last three decades, the killer diseases such as JE and AES claimed the lives of over 50,000 children in eastern Uttar Pradesh, with majority of the casualty taking place in Gorakhpur, Prasad said. Records claim that while in 2012, 557 children died, 650 died in 2013, 525 in 2014, 491 in 2015, 641 in 2016 and 124 have died this year till August 8.

Sources said even as the flow of encephalitis patients into hospitals continue, the BRD Medical College, which has been developed as nodal centre for the disease, is awaiting release of funds for strengthening the medical facilities.

In May, the medical college administration had sent a proposal of Rs 37 crore for strengthening health facilities, which includes maintenance of wards, ICU, medicine, ventilators, laboratory, human resource and other facilities in the wards.

The state government, in turn, had forwarded the proposal to the central government for approval and allocation of funds. “The release of funds is still awaited,” an officer said. Former principal of BRD Medical College Dr KP Kushwaha stressed on the need to amend the policy regarding JE and AES patients. “Usually the medical officials do not provide the correct figure of encephalitis patients to health and family welfare department, fearing that action will be taken against them,” he said, adding that such doctors are promoted and those who highlight are being sidelined.